Foster Care Month
1 min read
By: Olivia Carney
There are currently more than 400,000 children (about half the population of Delaware) in foster care in the United States. One could argue that’s too many children in the system without homes and families. When May comes around it is time to acknowledge the sheer number of children in the system (May is National Foster Care Month).
It began in 1988 when President Ronald Reagan issued the first Presidental Proclamation that established May as National Foster Care Month. The original goal was to provide foster parents recognition for opening homes to foster children and caring for them. However, as time went on the focus changed. Now the focus is more on the children in the system and raising awareness for adoption.
Calia Bennet (an ADT student who was also in the foster care system for some time) stated, “I was really little so I can’t remember much, I just know that I was scared of everyone there was this really nice guy who let me stay with his family for a bit until my grandma could get me.” When asked why foster care month important, Emily Clawson (an Allied Health student) commented, “It raises awareness for children in the system and that’s good because sometimes they get treated unfairly.”
Overall, Foster Care Month is essential to spreading information about children in the system.
